During this time of uncertainty with COVID-19, riders all over the world have one thing in common—we are all stuck at home. While horse owners are practicing social distancing—many away from their horses—Julie Goodnight offers free Daily Doses of Horsemanship Homework, daily horsemanship lessons riders can watch and practice at home—in and out of the saddle.
“Like so many of you, all my travel plans were cancelled leaving me wondering what to do,” Goodnight says. “How can I help? How can I remain connected with my audience? The answer was to do what I do best—teach horsemanship. Giving people a daily lesson—be it for distraction, entertainment or education—seemed like a good idea.”
Offered on both Facebook Lives (Facebook.com/JulieGoodnight/Live_Videos) and her YouTube channel (YouTube.com/JulieGoodnight), Goodnight covers rider-requested topics from turning aids and techniques to stop with your seat, to the intricacies of horse behavior and building your confidence with horses.
“I hope riders will take away new information and gain insight into their riding skills, their horse handling skills, their confidence level, plus gain appreciation for riding theory and science-based research in behavior and training,” says Goodnight. “More importantly, I’m doing it to stay connected to my people, my audience—the ones I miss seeing at expos and clinics. I want to keep our horse community strong and remind people that we are all in this together, even during this time of isolation.”
Interacting casually with riders across the globe, Goodnight’s “living room lessons,” focus on what riders can do out of the saddle to improve their horsemanship skills. Riders then get the opportunity to ask Goodnight their need-to-know questions, and get them answered live, in real time. Goodnight intersperses these with in-the-arena lessons that focus on skills riders want to know more about.
“My passion in life is horse training,” says Goodnight. “My gift is not as a rider, but as an educator, a communicator. My fans are horse lovers just like me, and it’s important for me to connect with people who share my passion. By using my gift, teaching people to get along better with their horses, I can help horses, one human at a time.”
Follow Goodnight on Facebook (Facebook.com/JulieGoodnight) and YouTube (YouTube.com/JulieGoodnight) to watch every Daily Dose of Horsemanship Homework.
About Julie Goodnight
Goodnight is the popular host and producer of Horse Master, a successful how-to TV series on handling, riding, and training horses since 2008. Goodnight travels extensively sharing her no-nonsense horsemanship with riders of all disciplines. Goodnight is experienced with many kinds of riding—she grew up on the hunter-jumper circuits in Florida and is now at home in the West. She and her husband, Rich Moorhead, live in the mountains near Salida, Colorado, where they enjoy riding the trails and training cow-horses.
Explore Goodnight’s training library of articles, videos and more at JulieGoodnight.com/Academy